Six Jobs That Automation Will Eliminate

[Prysin]

19 minutes ago, tlink said:

well low end electrician jobs can be automated. especially in factory's where the company has full control over the enviroment. debugging interfaces with AI prediction algorithm's can take quite some of those jobs, not to mention that as other jobs start becomming scarser more people will try to become electricians and other bot/AI maintainers which will flood the job market. just because this doesn't affect you directly doesn't mean that it won't be a problem to you.

I wouldn't be in jeopardy. By the time others will be "flooding" the market ill either have far more practical experience than 90% of my competitors, or I'll be retired 

[Teddy07]

1 hour ago, SamStrecker said:

So the only remaining jobs will be the top 10% of engineers and such. As surgeons are already being replaced by robots.

 

I dont believe that one bit. Yes doctors have new tools to help them but replace? Not a single chance

[Mr.Meerkat]

4 hours ago, TheRandomness said:

Change the title to have 'And you wont believe number 3' please @Kloaked

Mod suggesting clickbait? o_O 

[Clanscorpia]

[Misanthrope]

I feel this will dent the typical conservative argument of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps!" Since most entry level jobs that just require work ethic but no specialized skill (read the op) will be obsolete so millions would need training and education which isn't free so it leaves many with 0 recourse to better themselves so to speak. 

[Thunderpup]

I'm not terribly worried about this.  We have no idea what sort of job market will exist in 10, 20, 30 or more years from now.  Just because humans will be displaced from some jobs doesn't mean there won't be others to be filled.

 

Remember the term "computer" used to mean a person who was paid to perform calculations or computations.  Companies hired lots of people to just do this sort of stuff, but as primitive (by today's standards) adding machines became more readily available those people were no longer needed.  Imagine what folks thought back then, it was probably similar to the way the OP is thinking now. 

[Mira Yurizaki]

I'll also only believe in the robot revolution when it can transform third world, war-torn countries in something resembling a first world country.

 

Or turns everything into a dystopia.

[Phate.exe]

1 hour ago, Misanthrope said:

I feel this will dent the typical conservative argument of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps!" Since most entry level jobs that just require work ethic but no specialized skill (read the op) will be obsolete so millions would need training and education which isn't free so it leaves many with 0 recourse to better themselves so to speak. 

It's interesting to not yet be post-scarcity, but to be close enough that we can very much see many of the situations we will have to deal with.

 

In the near future there will have to be some discussions into the actual value of labor, and ideas about how we as a society should handle a reality where unskilled jobs will be nearly-nonexistent.  The people currently working those jobs aren't going to just disappear when the jobs they are qualified to perform do.

 

Maybe it's time to look into ideas like a Universal Basic Income.

[SurvivorNVL]

1 hour ago, Misanthrope said:

I feel this will dent the typical conservative argument of "pull yourself up by your bootstraps!" Since most entry level jobs that just require work ethic but no specialized skill (read the op) will be obsolete so millions would need training and education which isn't free so it leaves many with 0 recourse to better themselves so to speak. 

This is why I have a prediction that people, millions who get disenfranchised by the lack of work and loss of their jobs, may end up revolting against the idea of automation, and create laws or boundaries to prohibit it.  A revolution to ensure people can still have the meaningful act of working.  Imagine how many jobs that require college training and years of slaving for a degree, end up being replaced in the end?  Accountants, executives, and all kinds of office workers who need management degrees - they'll be on the chopping block in no time once prediction algorithms get even a few percent better.  

[Phate.exe]

13 minutes ago, SurvivorNVL said:

This is why I have a prediction that people, millions who get disenfranchised by the lack of work and loss of their jobs, may end up revolting against the idea of automation, and create laws or boundaries to prohibit it.  A revolution to ensure people can still have the meaningful act of working.  Imagine how many jobs that require college training and years of slaving for a degree, end up being replaced in the end?  Accountants, executives, and all kinds of office workers who need management degrees - they'll be on the chopping block in no time once prediction algorithms get even a few percent better.  

 

Do we cry for telephone switchboard operators being made obsolete?  How about people who refined whale oil?

 

Any time you talk about limiting automation, you're suggesting we intentionally cripple our technological process in the name of maintaining previously-held ideas about the value of human labor.

[Misanthrope]

11 minutes ago, SurvivorNVL said:

This is why I have a prediction that people, millions who get disenfranchised by the lack of work and loss of their jobs, may end up revolting against the idea of automation, and create laws or boundaries to prohibit it.  A revolution to ensure people can still have the meaningful act of working.  Imagine how many jobs that require college training and years of slaving for a degree, end up being replaced in the end?  Accountants, executives, and all kinds of office workers who need management degrees - they'll be on the chopping block in no time once prediction algorithms get even a few percent better.  

I don't think rebellion against progress will work simply because it never has. As much as many conservatives hate the notion some form of socialist democracy will be needed to deal with it. 

[SansVarnic]

Seriously this is a thing to complain about?

Automation has been going on now for what ... 15+  years now? 

The car industry has been into automation now for sometime.

People will always find something to complain about ...

Automation does eliminate some jobs but creates others.

[Okjoek]

It's a very gradual transition to automation I think. In the end there will still be jobs, but nowhere near as many that existed before and as we're seeing a certain number of them won't be well paying at all. There will belots of things to be produced cheaply and easily, but there will be few people to buy anything without some kind of universal basic income or some other social program.

[Phate.exe]

7 minutes ago, SansVarnic said:

Seriously this is a thing to complain about?

Automation has been going on now for what ... 15+  years now? 

The car industry has been into automation now for sometime.

People will always find something to complain about ...

Automation does eliminate some jobs but creates others.

15 years?

 

Where I work there are still a couple of PLC-5's kicking around, which came out in 1985.  Fortunately those are going away, but there are a ton of SLC's still, which are honestly fine and came out in the early 90's.

 

We don't have any of their hardware, but Modicon's had Programmable Logic Controllers since the early 1970's.

 

http://www.plcdev.com/the_birth_of_the_plc

[SansVarnic]

1 minute ago, Phate.exe said:

15 years?

 

Where I work there are still a couple of PLC-5's kicking around, which came out in 1985.  Fortunately those are going away, but there are a ton of SLC's still, which are honestly fine and came out in the early 90's.

 

We don't have any of their hardware, but Modicon's had Programmable Logic Controllers since the early 1970's.

 

http://www.plcdev.com/the_birth_of_the_plc

I said 15+ years. The last 15 being the most common time.

I do remember some automation being installed back in the late 70's ... early experimental stuff  

[BuckGup]

4 hours ago, Teddy07 said:

I dont believe that one bit. Yes doctors have new tools to help them but replace? Not a single chance

Depending on the surgery you can opt for a robot. I think it's way cheaper or something. But a surgeon is there at all times incase something happens

[Yoinkerman]

I flew up a mountain today to repair an off grid radio tower.

take that automation

[Frank6247]

People are talking about automation when I'm more interested in the possible eventual replacement of the human as the most advanced sentient being in the universe (at least on Earth) by ultra advanced AI. I think its just a matter of time that we become just like a dog or a cat in the shadow of these new sentient superbeings. That's assuming that they let us hang around...

[tlink]

10 hours ago, Prysin said:

I wouldn't be in jeopardy. By the time others will be "flooding" the market ill either have far more practical experience than 90% of my competitors, or I'll be retired 

yea but like i said a part of those jobs will also be automated, which means there are less working hours for the same pool of electricians that already existed AND there will be a lot of new ones flooding the market, not to mention that because people have no job they might as well become electrician and plumber or electrician and programmer. if i where an automated company i would prefer those over 'just' an electrician. the figurative societal boat being rocked this much is going to affect everyone majorly except to the top or something like that, just like the housing bubble crisis crisis did.

[Prysin]

2 hours ago, tlink said:

yea but like i said a part of those jobs will also be automated, which means there are less working hours for the same pool of electricians that already existed AND there will be a lot of new ones flooding the market, not to mention that because people have no job they might as well become electrician and plumber or electrician and programmer. if i where an automated company i would prefer those over 'just' an electrician. the figurative societal boat being rocked this much is going to affect everyone majorly except to the top or something like that, just like the housing bubble crisis crisis did.

i am going to correct you a little. Factory "electricians" are not electricians. yes yes i know, "no true scottsman". But the matter of fact is that international law for electronics, maritime and machinery allow ANY uncertified homeless heroin addict to do electrical installations as part of a documented, verified appliance or machine. They are however not allowed, certified or educated enough to get ANY out-of-factory work in the US, Canada, Europe and Scandinavia. I am not familiar with Russian laws, but they too DO have stringent regulations.

 

But the fact is that the majority of factory or line workers have NO education within electrical work. They were assigned a station and given a 4 hour crash course in assembling said component/machine, and that is it. Damn good at doing that, utterly useless outside of it.

 

They will need to go back to trade school in order to be licensed or legalized for electrical work in most countries. These jobs exist today, but they are so shitty paid, you cannot sustain yourself on those wages as you arent even paid as good as "out of school" apprentices. We are talking 40-50% less then the starter salary for licensed workers. You are also not considered licensed or "in-training" for many of these countries, and thus will have a lot of hoops to jump in order to get unionized (which you MUST in order to get better wages in non scandinavian countries).

 

So no, these people wont just suddenly jump in. Due to the inherently dangerous (for professional and end consumer) nature of electricity, licensing will not be relaxed, infact it is getting tighter each year, with fewer and fewer apprentices passing their licensing exam because education is getting totally disconnected from reality of works (aka, legislators have no clue what corporations need. Thus any policy to ease the recruitment or hiring requirements wont really take effect for many many years on end).

[MrDynamicMan]

15 hours ago, SurvivorNVL said:

This is why my life is devoted to trade jobs - it'll be difficult in the next century for a robot to take over a job like electrical work, plumbing, or gunsmithing.  Carpentry is a possibility, though..

I can easily see bots doing at least electrical work. 

[tlink]

5 hours ago, Prysin said:

i am going to correct you a little. Factory "electricians" are not electricians. yes yes i know, "no true scottsman". But the matter of fact is that international law for electronics, maritime and machinery allow ANY uncertified homeless heroin addict to do electrical installations as part of a documented, verified appliance or machine. They are however not allowed, certified or educated enough to get ANY out-of-factory work in the US, Canada, Europe and Scandinavia. I am not familiar with Russian laws, but they too DO have stringent regulations.

 

But the fact is that the majority of factory or line workers have NO education within electrical work. They were assigned a station and given a 4 hour crash course in assembling said component/machine, and that is it. Damn good at doing that, utterly useless outside of it.

 

They will need to go back to trade school in order to be licensed or legalized for electrical work in most countries. These jobs exist today, but they are so shitty paid, you cannot sustain yourself on those wages as you arent even paid as good as "out of school" apprentices. We are talking 40-50% less then the starter salary for licensed workers. You are also not considered licensed or "in-training" for many of these countries, and thus will have a lot of hoops to jump in order to get unionized (which you MUST in order to get better wages in non scandinavian countries).

 

So no, these people wont just suddenly jump in. Due to the inherently dangerous (for professional and end consumer) nature of electricity, licensing will not be relaxed, infact it is getting tighter each year, with fewer and fewer apprentices passing their licensing exam because education is getting totally disconnected from reality of works (aka, legislators have no clue what corporations need. Thus any policy to ease the recruitment or hiring requirements wont really take effect for many many years on end).

none of that resembles what i said, i said that they can go back to school and that more people will try to learn that trait. i think you misinterpret what i mean. i know nobody can just pick up the work and do it, they have to learn it. but for example in my country, the group of people that graduate high school that can get a degree as electro-technical mechanic in 2 to 3 years is over 80% of graduates. while during their study towards that job, they will already be working at the actual location for 2 years for FREE. if you don't see how this market is going to get flooded than i think you're way to optimistic about it.

[kuddlesworth9419]

I can't wait to never have to work ever again. To be fair though there are some jobs that people think are unskilled that they think could be replaced with a robot which can't really. Welding is one of them. There will always be work for welders for custom work. Say if I want a new aluminium fuel tank or radiator for my car I'm not going to go to a huge manufacturer to get one made i will go to a garage with a professional welder. Same with stairs, fences and repair work.

 

The amount of jobs available will decrease and the work will get more specific and detailed, niche in other words but I think that's a good thing. More people will be out of work and the Government will have to increase welfare budgets for all the people who will inevitably loose their jobs. They won't do it though because Governments are slow and stingy. 

[Sauron]

21 hours ago, That Norwegian Guy said:

One time I will actually get behind the taxation movement.

 

Taxes to fully eat up all profitability of having a robot rather than a human.

 

Those taxes paid back out to those jobless because of robots. Only way to avoid societal collapse/ anarchy

Or, you know, we could educate people. But if you dare mention state sponsored higher education to the same people who want robot taxation you'll get lynched.

[Prysin]

56 minutes ago, tlink said:

none of that resembles what i said, i said that they can go back to school and that more people will try to learn that trait. i think you misinterpret what i mean. i know nobody can just pick up the work and do it, they have to learn it. but for example in my country, the group of people that graduate high school that can get a degree as electro-technical mechanic in 2 to 3 years is over 80% of graduates. while during their study towards that job, they will already be working at the actual location for 2 years for FREE. if you don't see how this market is going to get flooded than i think you're way to optimistic about it.

trust me, as someone actually working in the field. We take in a lot of students who work for us for free. Free is not great. Free is a fucking hassle. Because free, low skill work, 90% of what they do must be redone or double checked by a skilled worker. OR isnt done properly and costs the company money.

 

The only reason why companies take in apprentices atm, is because our government pays us to do it, and refuse to give gov contracts to companies without a apprentice...

 

If this wasnt the case, they wouldnt get a job unless they were friends or family of someone who worked in the company, this goes for most companies except the biggest ones (300+ employees). 

 

Low skill or apprentices is a fucking hassle for a company in a profession with as many regulations as mine has.